Comments on: The team and driver errors that caused Hamilton’s retirement

By: Nick Clews

Nick Clews — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:33:47 +0000

i think that it is definantly the teams fault for the hamilton retirment as much as i am a mclaren fan. They should of had him pitting much earlier than he was and has handing an easy world title victory for alonso and raikonen due to a lack of confidence for hamilton.
GO ON HAMILTON WIN IT FOR BRITAIN!

By: Alonso follower

Alonso follower — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:26:46 +0000

Spaniard here…

I don’t see anything wrong with British TV commentators glossing over British drivers. It’s just natural and probably following the tastes of their target audience. Just watch the races while hearing the Spanish TV commentators and you’ll also feel a bias towards Alonso. I guess that TV sports events are too popular for getting the kind of balanced, unbiased and deeply technical comments that some of the posters would like to hear.

However (and that’s the part pro-Alonso) I don’t see pro-LH people here recognizing some facts:

1- Lewis is a rookie, he commits rookie mistakes, like not changing tyres before they wear out. It is not the first race where he has wear down a tyre. Before the China race he has been very lucky in those situations, however.
2- Most critics to Alonso are targeting his lack of team play. I don’t know if anyone has analyzed why McLaren is this year’s number one builder. You must give credit to Alonso influence on the team and the car (please forget the espionage, I seriously doubt that with cars so different it really had any impact on such different designs) and must reckon that Lewis would not be heading for the championship with a car tuned by himself.
3- Alonso joined McLaren assuming that, if there ever McLaren had to make a choice between the two drivers, he was going to be the preferred one. His main failure was to not have that written down in a contract. During the first half of the championship, when his results were not measuring up to the McLaren expectations, McLaren changed his policy so as to give their rookie driver the preferred treatment. When Alonso started to get better, McLaren changed their policy their “no preferred driver” attitude.

Or at least that’s what I feel. Honestly, if Alonso is not the winner, I’d prefer to see Kimi taking the championship than having to bear with more media-induced LH hype.

By: SoLiD

SoLiD — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:07:35 +0000

he could have gone in slower. But it was a hard situation… he didn’t have any grip and they entry was much wetter then the track.
And as an f1 driver you try to look for the limit, even when entering the pits!
Even at a slow speed, he would have gone off (i think), ok maybe he wouldn’t got stuck tough.
I get that Mclaren wanted to wait for the rain, if it came…
But it was so obvious he needed the tyres instantly…
I believe Lewis with a bit more experience, in the future, will make the decision for himself to come in for new tyres!

By: oliver

oliver — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 01:38:47 +0000

Well at least Bernie can have the ultimate final he so longed for. And we may yet see the competitors take each other out like Bernie would wish.

Strange still the smallest gravel trap.

By: John F

John F — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:24:15 +0000

I understood what you meant Oliver. I am not saying that the turn was at fault I meant that I find it somewhat ironic the location of a gravel pit being placed at that particular location would end his race.

By: oliver

oliver — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:09:52 +0000

The problem with that tight turn is that, you just cant make it if ur tyres are canvas. Its ok if you have momentum, but a sharp turn like that and the tyre would never bite, so he didnt really go in too fast, the tyres just had no grip. A very good experiment that can be carried out is to see how such tyres would go from a standing start. My bet is that you will just end up with wheel spin and very little forward motion

By: John F

John F — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:01:23 +0000

When Hamilton went into the pits it could be clearly seen that the right front tire was spent. Even though there was no tire change Hamilton should have been told the condition of his tires. He should have been able to feel his tires going away. He did not need to race with Kimi but true to his youth he chose too. A lack of communication along with over confidence cost him the race. All that being said I am still in amazment that a gravel pit in the entrance to pit road would be the spot where it went wrong.

By: oliver

oliver — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:10:31 +0000

Kirk, it gets more difficult now coming from 20th position and winning the race or getting on the podium. With the new 19,000rpm rev limits, its tough enough coming from 3rd to 2nd. Ask Massa the last race he had to start from the very back.

Besides, if its possible to come from the back in say for example Monza, it would be totally reckless in thinking, to then expect the same to be done in Monaco, or Hungary.

And as the cars get more and more refined, it would gever even harder still

By: Uk

Uk — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:59:42 +0000

GO, KIMI, GO!!! YOU DESERVE IT

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:37:36 +0000

you play the cards you are dealt with in life,
sadly Lewis messed up, happens to us all but seems like he has moved on pretty quickly, maybe he is looking on the bright side that over the last two races he is 2 points beter than Fernando
great that we get a more tense finale as the Kimster has an outside chance at the last race, but if Lewis goes for pole, he can cruise and collect the Championship because the top four drivers surely won’t be beaten